I know it’s a long time ago now. British and American forces, alongside troops from Spain, Australia and Poland, invaded Iraq in 2003.

Most British forces pulled out in 2009.

And it’s natural for interest to fade a little, or to ask what can really be gained by raking over old coals – even when it was a war that cost the lives of 178 British armed forces personnel, as well as more than 100,000 Iraqi lives one way or another.

But if Iraq is beginning to fade from our memories, that’s all the more reason to demand that a long-awaited report into how the UK ended up going to war is published now.

There was widespread demand for a proper inquiry back when Tony Blair was Prime Minister. But he said it would be the wrong while British troops were still in danger in Iraq.

The next Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to his credit, ordered an inquiry in 2009.

It was chaired by civil servant Sir John Chilcot and heard evidence from Mr Brown, Mr Blair and other people including Eliza Manningham-Buller, the former head of MI5, and Alistair Campbell, the spin doctor who worked closely with Mr Blair.

The aim was to get a clear answer to the question of how exactly Britain ended up invading Iraq, as well as to look at the conflict itself and the success or otherwise of attempts to bring peace and democracy to Iraq afterwards.

But we’re still waiting for the findings to be published.

These are questions that need to be answered. Why did Tony Blair tell us Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction which might, he said, one day fall into the hands of terrorists?

We know that Iraq turned out not to have those weapons. We don’t know how our Government got it so wrong.

The ability to hold our leaders to account is an essential part of our democracy. That has to include, at the very least, knowing what exactly they have done in our name, and why.

Of course, Mr Blair insists he did nothing wrong, and is looking forward to the publication of the Chilcot report so that he can defend himself.

The inquiry may indeed conclude that he has nothing to be ashamed of. Even if mistakes were made, they may have been made in good faith.

But we need to know.

The delay is supposedly caused by a row over whether the inquiry can publish details of private conversations between Mr Blair and former US President George Bush.

But we have a right to know what Mr Blair told Mr Bush. And we shouldn’t have to wait any longer to find out.